RCMP Superintendent David Hall speaks about linking four historical homicides to deceased serial killer Gary Allen Srery during a press conference in Edmonton on May 17.Jason Franson/The Canadian Press
An American sex offender has been identified as the serial killer of four young women who were strangled in and around the City of Calgary in the 1970s, and whose cases have remained unsolved for nearly half a century.
RCMP now say Gary Allen Srery is responsible for the murders of teenagers Eva Dvorak and Patricia “Patsy” McQueen, both 14, Melissa Rehorek, 20, and Barbara MacLean, 19.
Mr. Srery, who was originally from Oak Park, Ill., was identified and linked to the murders through DNA. He died in prison in the United States in 2011, while serving a life sentence for rape.
“We don’t use the word closure, because you don’t ever get closure when someone in your family is murdered. But you do get answers,” said Staff Sergeant Travis McKenzie, during a detailed technical briefing about the case and investigation at RCMP headquarters in Edmonton on Friday.
Mr. Srery had a long history of violent sexual offences against women and had been classified a “mentally disordered sex offender” when he slipped into Canada illegally some time between 1974 and 1976, fleeing new rape charges in the U.S.
He had no recorded contact with police in Canada until 1996, when he was charged with sexual assault and forcible confinement in New Westminster, B.C. He served time in prison for that offence, and was deported after his release in 2003.
On Friday, investigators released a detailed timeline and a number of photos of Mr. Srery in hope that anyone with information about him – including possible survivors of sexual assaults committed by him – will come forward.
“We truly believe the suspect is not involved in only four homicides, but there’s a distinct possibility that he’s responsible for many more, either in Alberta, British Columbia or the Western United States,” Staff Sgt. McKenzie said.
Pictures of homicide victims Eva Violet Dvorak and Patricia Marie McQueen are seen during a press conference.Jason Franson/The Canadian Press
Teenagers Eva and Patsy were last seen walking together toward downtown Calgary early on Feb. 15, 1976. The 14-year-old girls were found dead underneath the Happy Valley underpass later that morning, both fully clothed and lying together on the road.
In the fall of that year, on Sept. 15, 1976, Melissa Rehorek left her home in Calgary, planning to hitchhike to Banff on her days off from work. She was found dead in a ditch west of Calgary the next morning. Then, five months later, on Feb. 26, 1977, Barbara MacLean disappeared while going home from a party. Her body was found later that morning.
Pictures of homicide victims Melissa Ann Rehorek and Barbara Jean MacLean are seen.Jason Franson/The Canadian Press
Investigators had long believed the cases were linked. The victims had obvious similarities: All were young women walking alone in Calgary at night. They were all strangled to death, sexually assaulted, and left fully clothed in areas outside the city. In each case, their killer left their bodies out in the open, with no effort to hide their remains. Semen was found at all four crime scenes.
But despite physical evidence at all three scenes, including shoe prints, tire tracks and black hairs, police could not identify a suspect.
The initial probe into the women’s murders lasted into the 1980s, with four separate task forces to re-examine the evidence, which included more than 800 tips, 500 statements and the investigation of 853 suspects or persons of interest, none of whom were the killers.
“His name never surfaced,” Staff Sgt. McKenzie said. “In the investigation world, we have this saying that your suspect’s name is in the file. Srery’s name was never in the file. He was never interviewed. He truly went unnoticed.”
A copy photo of Gary Allen Srery, a deceased serial killer who the Alberta RCMP linked to four historical homicides, is shown during a press conference in Edmonton, on May 17.Jason Franson/The Canadian Press
RCMP say Mr. Srery used at least nine aliases, one of which was Rex Long. He was known to be in Calgary and Standard, Alta., and in a number of communities in B.C., including Vancouver, Davis Bay, Half Moon Bay, Gibsons, Abbotsford, Cultus Lake and Chilliwack.
In 2003, DNA analysis officially confirmed that Ms. Rehorek and Ms. MacLean were killed by the same person, but the DNA profile of their killer did not match any samples in the National DNA Data Bank or Interpol at that time.
But in 2022, police received a new tip. Though the tip itself wasn’t of substance, Staff Sgt. McKenzie said it prompted a re-examination of the cases.
With new technology and resources, DNA ultimately connected all the victims, and then connected them to an inmate who had been sentenced to life for rape and aggravated battery in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in 2008: Gary Srery.
“In 2023, the Idaho State Police forensic services did a direct match to our suspect’s DNA from all four crime scenes,” Staff Sgt. McKenzie said. “So, conclusively, we can say Gary Allen Srery was responsible for these homicides.”
He said Mr. Srery’s relatives were co-operative, and “very surprised” by the scope of the investigation.
If Mr. Srery were alive today, he would be 81 years old.
Staff Sgt. McKenzie said investigators believe Mr. Srery was responsible for other violent offences in Canada, and are appealing to the public for help filling in what are “quite significant” gaps in Mr. Srery’s history and known offences. In particular, RCMP say, is the period between when Mr. Srery entered Canada in the mid-1970s, and the time of his first interaction with police in 1996.
“He has a consistent pattern of regularly committing sexual-based offences, getting charged, getting convicted. And then when he comes to Canada, it’s almost like he disappears,” Staff Sgt. McKenzie said. “So our biggest concern is that there are other victims out there that we don’t know about.”
Anyone with information about Mr. Srery is being asked to contact RCMP through a special tip line that has been set up by e-mail at k-ideology@rcmp-grc.gc.ca, or by phone at 780-509-3306.